Demanding Excursion

[TJ042018]

4 minutes ago, Zippeedee said:

The excursions manager on the Star in November was exceedingly thorough like that. He helped me so much. I wish they would let him train every excursion manager to do the same, or let him print out a version for every sailing.

I hope we have him on the Star in May!

[drbayside]

On 8/12/2023 at 12:44 PM, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

You didn't go into a chocolate shop???  How could you not, they're everywhere in Bruges!  We went into several as we brought back Belgian Chocolates as gifts.  My husband had to do the "sniff" test of the shop before we would buy - if it smelled heavenly, that was the shop!  Then I had to hide the chocolate from him just to get it home!

😂😂😂😂 YIKES, I meant to say we did go to the chocolate shops. We would never pass those up. Yum!

[Microman123]

On 4/18/2024 at 8:50 AM, Famsw said:

We were just in Bruges (Trade Routes cruise) for the 1/2 day included excursion in Bruges.  I think the demanding is the long walk (both from the bus and city) on cobblestones with challenging (though fairly flat) walking throughout the city.  We did 15k steps in 3 hours.  You can possibly do the boat tour on your own, but the lines were very long as Bruges was extremely crowded.  Yes, we enjoyed chocolate and beer and the churches as well as fries.  Have fun!

I'm doing the Bergen to Barcelona Trade Routes cruise in September. I'm trying to decide side of ship cabin from a see the shoreline perspective. Any comments or suggestions from your recent trip to help me make that decision? Thanks!

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, Microman123 said:

I'm doing the Bergen to Barcelona Trade Routes cruise in September. I'm trying to decide side of ship cabin from a see the shoreline perspective. Any comments or suggestions from your recent trip to help me make that decision? Thanks!

 

Bergen to Barcelona you want to be on the left or Port side of the ship.  Moving south you will get most coastline views with the exception of Portsmouth and Flamouth.

 

This however never guarantees you a view of the port when you dock, just shoreline when sailing.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Microman123 said:

I'm doing the Bergen to Barcelona Trade Routes cruise in September. I'm trying to decide side of ship cabin from a see the shoreline perspective. Any comments or suggestions from your recent trip to help me make that decision? Thanks!

We took a variation of this cruise (Copenhagen instead of Bergen) and most of the time there is no view of land. You are mostly sailing at night, even when passing Gibraltar. The long sea day is the Bay of Biscay, where you are far from land and in many cases rough seas. The only segment that had a real view was in the English Channel and you have a great view in the Explorer’s Lounge.

 

BTW the Bay of Biscay can have very rough seas, some of the roughest we’ve encountered on any Viking itinerary. Many people were seasick so be prepared with whatever your preferred remedy is.

Edited May 2 by OneSixtyToOne

[CCWineLover]

Agreed - and that's also if you don't plan to leave your room/balcony.

We love to go up top in Explorers Lounge, outside in front of the Lounge, or on Deck 8, or the fantail for great views on either side when we sail into/out of port.  In between, there isn't usually much to see as the shipping lanes tend to be further from shore.   And it seems like Viking always transits Gibalatar in the middle of the night.